What can I do for dry scalp on toddler

[butteredradish1]

My toddler has a dry scalp, if I use a nit comb to lightly scratch it, it will flake away. Not cradle cap.

We generally don't wash his hair more than once a week. I don't use shampoos or anything as they dried out his hair.

What can I use? He won't let me scrub at his scalp so I'm a bit limited.

I got rid of most of it on the top of his head with a plastic nit comb but back 6 weeks later.

Going to try with cocount oil in the sun. Anything else?

I was going to suggest coconut oil

Epaderm ointment. Not the cream; the thick ointment. You can use it as a soap in the bath and I used it to wash my son’s hair/rub into his scalp.

Does it wash out

It absorbs really easily into the skin so scalp should absorb it up. Let it sit to do that and then rinse out and dry with a towel. It shouldn’t be too greasy, but until you’ve got the problem under control, you might have to put up with some level of greasiness as you can’t wash it out with shampoo. Then you can move to a light scalp/hair oil to manage it.

Oh right so put on dry hair.

Do you not use any shampoo? A moisturising shampoo might be needed to actually cleanse the scalp? Aveeno would be good

It can be used wet or dry. My son has severe eczema so we used it as a soap and on his scalp in the bath and as a moisturiser on dry skin.

You just use it in the bath or shower on their head, let is sit for a while without getting water on it, then a rinse and dry down with a towel.

No because it dries the scalp. There is zero need to use shampoo, I don't use it myself and only have to wash my hair once a week. Co wash

Try using Neutrogena Sensitive Scalp Shampoo. It can be a bit hard to find but Savers and Amazon often have it

We tried everything mentioned on this thread and this Shampoo has been the only thing that properly helped.

Neutrogena t-gel. It’s for adults but a tiny bit used once or twice worked wonders for us when dd was about 6 and nothing else had worked. Follow with your normal shampoo as it smells unpleasant.

Thanks all. Cococunt pil has helped as I can comb his hair with a bit comb with it in. However now he has a bad hair day lol

You need to stop using the nit comb to scrape the scalp. Scraping off the flakes and scabs can make it worse but irritating it and causing inflammation. It makes the flaking worse.
You just need to moisturise and let them fall off on their own. It does unfortunately mean greasy/lightly greasy hair but get a proper ointment like epaderm and give it time. It’s heavy but it absorbs well so isn’t too bad.
There is also a few beeswax mixes which are really great.

You do also need to consider he may have different hair and scalp conditions to you, and he might need shampoo.
You don’t believe in if and you don’t use it and it works for you. That’s great; my sister is the same. Never used it and has amazing hair. I followed her method, terrible hair and build up on my scalp and itchiness. But I reacted horribly to so many shampoos that it didn’t help. Literally the only thing that gives me a healthy scalp with no ticking and flakes and actually well conditioned hair is head and shoulder supreme (the purple one). That’s it. Nothing else works and I’m mid thirties and have tired every other kind of shampoo! The no shampoo method didn’t work for me; just lots of flakes.

He might need a proper cleanser for his scalp. He might just need moisturising. All
you know is that what you’re doing now isn’t working, his scalp has massive build up. It needs cleaned and it needs moisturised. What works for you doesn’t work for him so you need to let go of your principles a little here and find a hair routine that keeps him comfortable, clean and healthy.